A wireless local area network (WLAN) in an infrastructure basic service set (BSS) mode may include an access point (AP) for the BSS and one or more wireless transmit/receive units (WTRUs) associated with the AP. The AP may access or interface with a distribution system (DS) or another type of wired or wireless network that carries traffic in and out of the BSS. Traffic to WTRUs that originates from outside the BSS may arrive through the AP and may be delivered to the WTRUs. Traffic originating from WTRUs to destinations outside the BSS may be transmitted to the AP to be delivered to the respective destinations.
Traffic between WTRUs within the BSS may also be transmitted through the AP where the source WTRU transmits traffic to the AP, and the AP delivers the traffic to the destination WTRU. Such traffic between WTRUs within a BSS may be peer-to-peer traffic. Such peer-to-peer traffic may also be transmitted directly between the source and destination WTRUs with a direct link setup (DLS) using an IEEE 802.11e DLS or an IEEE 802.11z tunneled DLS (TDLS). A WLAN in an independent BSS mode may not have APs and WTRUs that communicate directly with each other.
New spectrum is being allocated in various countries around the world for wireless communication systems such as WLANs. Such spectrum may be limited in the size and also in the bandwidth of the channels it comprises. Given the limitations of such spectrum, WLANs may only be able to support smaller bandwidths and lower data rates, as compared to high throughput (HT) and very high throughput (VHT) WLANs, such as IEEE 802.11n and current draft IEEE 802.11ac based WLANs, respectively. For example, such is the case in spectrum allocated below 1 GHz in various countries with bandwidths of 1, 2, 4, 8 and 16 MHz. Another example is the television white space (TVWS) spectrum. In addition, more than one primary bandwidth mode may be supported because sometimes only some bandwidth modes are reliable or feasible for communication because of poor wireless link conditions and also because only some bandwidth modes allow a longer range in communication. Higher bandwidth transmissions may be supported as an aggregation of multiple primary bandwidth mode channels. One such example is in the sub 1 GHz spectrum where there may be BSSs supporting and allowing operation of 2 MHz and 1 MHz bandwidth modes as the primary bandwidth modes. Higher bandwidth transmissions, (e.g., 4 MHz, 8 MHz, 16 MHz), may be supported over multiples of 2 MHz/1 MHz bandwidths.
The WTRUs may support an increased communication range with a robust low rate modulation and coding set with repetition in a 1 MHz mode. Also, the WTRUs may be capable of receiving in 2 MHz and 1 MHz modes.